High School News

Each day, I profile two students at the Victory Briefs Institute so you, dear reader, can learn about the debaters from across the country who have joined us here at UCLA. (Youll have to forgive my omission yesterday, as it came during the leadup to my birthday!)

Name: Ambika Dubey
School: Monta Vista High School (California)
Class: 2014
Coaches: Shirley Keller-Firestone
NFL Degree: Merit

VBI2001-S1 Lab: Sasha Arijanto/Daniel Lumpee/Paras Kumar

How did you first get involved in debate?

I went to my first debate meeting because I was required to choose between going to a tournament or three other less appealing options as an assignment for a class I took in freshman year. Obviously, after that one tournament, I never left debate!

What is your proudest achievement in debate thus far?

My proudest achievement in debate is incredibly modest. I take the most pride in the fact that I have only been to three tournaments in my fifteen years of life and yet, I managed to go 3-2 at my first varsity tournament.

What are your hobbies beyond debate?

Beyond debate, I enjoy dancing (I have been dancing for as long as my memory goes), singing, acting, speech-ing (as in, the speech part of speech and debate), reading, and writing. In addit.

What are your main goals for VBI?

Throughout my time here at VBI, I would like to improve in circuit debate as I have had no real experience with this style. In addition, one of my main goals for VBI was (and still is) to make friends with the amazing people from all over the US.

What is your favorite thing about camp?

To be utterly truthful, my favorite part of camp is not the lectures, not the modules, not even the practice rounds. My favorite part of VBI is the time in between all these- the time when we flourish as human beings and grow in ways we never could have imagined; My favorite part of VBI is the time spent with those who help us stand up when we fall. My favorite part of VBI is the time spent with friends.

Name: Jack Wilson
School: Ridge High School (New Jersey)
Class: 2014
Coaches: David Yastremski and Lynne Coyne
NFL Degree: Excellence

VBI2001-S1 Lab: Ben Holguin/Daniel Imas

How did you first get involved in debate?

I first got involved in debate after hearing the announcement of debate tryouts. I attended the information meeting and was hooked.

What is your proudest achievement in debate thus far?

My proudest debate achievement is breaking and having success at tournaments such as Harvard, Lexington, Princeton, Newark, and States.

What are your hobbies beyond debate?

My hobbies beyond debate include history, skiing, waterskiing, hockey, enjoying time with friends, and reading.

What are your main goals for VBI?

My main goals for VBI include becoming a well-rounded debater, becoming more philosophically competent, and, of course, have fun!

What is your favorite thing about camp?

My favorite thing about camp is reading the philosophy and making new friends from various areas of the country.

Gales Creek Elementary School students will be bused to Dilley Elementary or the nearest elementary school to their house.Special needs teens will spend part of each day in the vacant Gales Creek Elementary School next year under a plan Forest Grove School District leaders say will save money and keep the building under district ownership.

Meanwhile, parents are threatening to pull their students from the district, adding uncertainty to the district’s estimate that closing the small, rural school will save $380,000.

The school board adopted a $48.5 million budget earlier this month that includes closing the 111-student school as part of a $7.5 million reduction in spending districtwide.

At the time, leaders said they would use the building for special education but provided few details about the program.

The district’s special education director, Brad Bafaro, said this week that about 10 students will spend at least part of the day in a therapeutic day school at Gales Creek.

Bafaro said the middle and high school-aged students who will attend the treatment program are academically at grade level, but have behavioral or mental health issues.

“These are kids that don’t fit into the normal situation that most kids do,” he said. “They need smaller groupings, some of them need more one-on-one instruction.”

The district spends between $35,000 and $41,000 per student, plus transportation costs, to send the students to the Northwest Regional Education Service District’s treatment programs in Beaverton and Tigard, Bafaro said.

District Business Manager Mike Schofield estimated treating the students in-house will save about $100,000.

Doing so also fulfills a legal obligation that the privately donated building be continuously used for educational purposes or be returned to its original owners.

The treatment program’s staff will include a certified teacher, a mental health specialist, a behavioral support person and classified employees.

Some students will spend the whole day at Gales Creek, while others might take classes at the middle or high school — something that was impossible with the former program.

“They can do that now because they’re on-site,” Bafaro said.

Meanwhile, Gales Creek parents are still questioning the district’s estimate that closing the school will save $380,000.

Assistant Superintendent Dave Willard said the figure comes from the economies of scale achieved by sending the Gales Creek students to Dilley Elementary and other district schools. In doing so, the district will eliminate a secretary, 2.5 teachers and three instructional assistants.

If Jason Giddings’ numbers are correct, the district will be way off on its estimate.

Giddings, president of the Gales Creek Parent Teacher Organization, has a list of 52 Gales Creek parents who are pulling their kids from Forest Grove schools next year. At an estimated $6,000 in lost funding for each student who leaves the district, Forest Grove stands to lose $312,000 if the families follow through with their promise.

Thirty-two of them — including Giddings — have enrolled their children in Oregon Connections Academy, or ORCA, an online school that educates 2,500 Oregon students.

The parents plan to rent a building to create a learning co-op where kids can continue to interact as classmates, despite losing their schoolhouse.

District leaders have said they heard the Gales Creek families’ threats to remove their children, but they refused to let that influence their decisions.

“We’re, of course, hoping the kids stay and come to Dilley,” Willard said. “We have a place for them.”

Gales Creek’s school website has been updated with information on how families can take steps toward enrolling their students at Dilley.

Meanwhile, a group of Gales Creek residents and others are pushing to recall school board members Terry Howell and Anna Tavera-Weller, who voted in favor of the budget proposal that finalized the school closure.

The group filed paperwork Tuesday with the Washington County Elections office.

Board member Alisa Hampton also voted in favor of the Gales Creek closure, but Giddings said recall advocates omitted her name in an effort to keep a quorum of board members to appoint Howell and Tavera-Weller’s replacements if the recall is successful.

“It’s not just about Gales Creek,” Giddings said. “Every one of those board members, I’m sure, has constituents that are unhappy.”

Take a moment and read this story in The New York Times. In short, a doctor tells of a 74 year old patient who couldn’t get his medicines correct.

Mr. M was a typical new patient: 74, with diabetes, hypertension and elevated cholesterol. He had some prostate enlargement and back pain. His bag of pill bottles was depressingly bulky. I spilled the bottles out at our first visit, sorting them by disease. … Mr. M didn’t remember the names of all the medicines … Mr. M was clearly still confused about his medicines…

In the end, we learn that Mr. M is illiterate, unable to read either Spanish or English. The story would be similar to many other stories of illiteracy leaving us emphatic, but emotionally disconnected, had it not been for the last paragraph.

My kindergarten-age daughter is just beginning to read, and she is taken aback with delirious joy each time a few random letters suddenly form a word that matches real life. It’s a painstaking process for her, but as I watch her I think about how this skill has powerful ramifications for her health and longevity. It’s a gift, really, one that I’d long to transfer to Mr. M if I could.

I know that joy! My son has become quite the avid reader. He no wants to be the listener; he wants to be the one who reads aloud. And I too wish I could give that gift to Mr. M.

Remember, they are never too old to participate in reading with you; whether you are the listener or the reader, make time to sit with your child and a book.

Yesterday we shared 36 private school reviews for schools in Queens. Today, well point you to 36 more reviews of private schools located in the Queens borough of New York City. Are you ready?

Lets get down to brass tacks.

1. Promise Christian Academy
2. Queens Lutheran School
3. Queens Village Day School
4. Queensview Nursery School Kindergarten
5. Razi School
6. Resurrection Ascension School
7. St. Agnes Academic School
8. St. Clare
9. St. Demetrios School
10. St. Fidelis Elementary School
11. St. Francis Of Assisi School
12. St. Gabriel School
13. St. Gregory The Great School
14. St. Helen School
15. St. Joan Of Arc Elementary School
16. St. Kevin School
17. St. Leo Elementary School
18. St. Lukes School
19. St. Matthias School
20. St. Michaels School
21. St. Pancras School
22. St. Robert Bellarmine School
23. St. Rose Of Lima School
24. St. Sebastian School
25. St. Teresa Of Avila School
26. St. Thomas The Apostle
27. Solomon Schechter School Of Queens
28. The Kew-Forest School
29. The Lowell School
30. The Queens Paideia School
31. The Summit School
32. Whitestone Academy
33. Word Christian Academy
34. Yeshiva Har Torah
35. Yeshiva Of Central Queens
36. Yeshiva University High School For Girls

NYC Private Schools Blog hopes you find a private, religious, or independent school in Queens that will meet your familys needs. We hope these private school reviews are helpful as you search for the right or best Queens private school for your child and your family.